PORT ANGELES — It came in short bursts, but the Peninsula College men’s basketball team certainly had the look of a serious NWAACC title contender Saturday night.
Playing before a packed gymnasium in their first home game in more than a month, the Pirates delivered an 88-68 victory over the visiting Skagit Valley Cardinals.
And as impressive as they were in running to their ninth straight win, there was a hint of unmet potential still lingering in head coach Lance Von Vogt’s office following the game.
“We haven’t reached the level that we want with consistent effort and being consistent with enforcing our will upon our opponent,” Von Vogt said.
“When we play 40 minutes of basketball where we’re enforcing our will on offense, defense and the transition game, that’s when we’re going to be special.”
The second-ranked Pirates (2-0 in North, 12-1 overall) provided glimpses of exactly what that might look like in Saturday night’s NWAACC North Division affair.
Even on a night when main attraction and USC commit J.T. Terrell failed to go off for his customary 27 points per game, the Pirates were still able to fire on all cylinders offensively.
Peninsula knocked down 53.3 percent of its shots (32 of 60) and had four different scorers in double figures as it took little pity on a Skagit Valley team missing its starting point guard and post player.
The game’s defining run — a 19-3 surge midway through the first half that resulted in a 37-18 Pirates lead — came with Terrell and All-NWAACC post DeShaun Freeman on the bench.
Sophomore forward Dudley Ewell had 17 points and five rebounds, point guard Tyler Funk added 14 points and two assists and Terrell had 13 points and one crowd-pleasing dunk just to make sure no one went home disappointed.
Netting 10 points
Freeman even went for 12 points and seven rebounds in limited minutes as 10 different Pirates ended up scoring.
“We’re a deep team,” said Funk, who sank all four of his attempts from 3-point range and was 5 of 6 from the field overall.
“I was at a national Juco in Arizona last year, and this team has the potential to be one of the best teams in the country. If we’re all on the same page and we all have the right attitude and share the ball, there’s really nothing that we can’t do.”
The Cardinals made small runs throughout the game to keep from getting run off the court.
But after going without a basket for nearly eight minutes midway through the first half, they had already dug themselves too big a hole to climb out.
The Cardinals’ biggest highlights of the night — Brian Zimmerman’s block of a Terrell dunk attempt at in the first half — even ended on a sour note after Zimmerman injured his knee and had to be helped off the court.
“They are a sophomore club, five sophomores, four from California, one from North Carolina,” Skagit Valley coach Roger Valentine said. “That’s really hard to compete with.
“We need all of our guys to do that, and we’re short-handed. Not taking anything away from them, they came out and got after us.”
Indeed, Von Vogt put a renewed emphasis on defense following Peninsula’s 103-102 shootout win at Seattle on Wednesday.
The result was a solid defensive performance that saw the Pirates limit Skagit to 39.7-percent shooting from the field.
The Cardinals struggled most during the first half when they hit only 32.1 percent of their shots and missed several attempts near the basket.
Peninsula also out-rebounded Skagit 41-34.
“Defense was a big emphasis in practice the last two days. We just had to have a full team effort. That’s what we did,” Funk said.
“Defense in the first half was a big deal.”
The Pirates took a 46-27 lead into the halftime break and never led by less than 15 the rest of the way.
They went up by as much as 30 after Chris Buchanan came off the bench and nailed a 3-pointer to put the Pirates up 84-54 with less than four minutes to go.
Only a sloppy finish, as well as a few other lapses in the second half, kept the game from feeling like a complete showing.
“It’s always a process. You never want to be the same team in February and March that you were in November and December,” Von Vogt said.
“If you are, you’re going to lose because everybody else is getting better, at least the contenders are.
“Our goal is not to be the best team right now. Our goal is to be the best team in February and March.”
Peninsula 88, S. Valley 68
Skagit Valley 27 41 — 68
Peninsula 46 42 — 88
Individual scoring
Skagit Valley (68)
Newman 8, Downer 10, Lambert 5, Zimmerman 2, Grimm 8, Jeffries 9, Fields 7, Ganchenko 13, Young 6.
Peninsula (88)
Freeman 12, Ewell 17, Sims 4, Funk 14, Buchanan 3, Terrell 13, Waller 9, Crouts 2, Clement 8, Rawls 6.
Women
Skagit Valley 64, Peninsula 55
PORT ANGELES — Alison Crumb is ready to ditch the comparisons to last year’s team.
As clear as Saturday night’s performance illustrated that the Pirates (1-1 in North, 7-5 overall) are no longer North Division doormats, that did not overshadow her team’s inability to close out the Cardinals.
“The comparison to last year, I think, is getting a little bit overdone,” said Crumb, who’s team has already eclipsed last year’s win total of five. “It’s unfair to the girls.
“They are good this year, and that’s the point of interest that I want people to understand and really start to believe in our team. We are a good team.
“It’s not a mistake that we are doing as well as we are doing. It’s not a mistake that we are playing hard against good teams and competing.”
There was little doubting the Pirates’ effort in Saturday’s loss.
Relying on its aggressive and physical man-to-man defense, the Pirates stayed within striking distance of the Cardinals (2-0 in North, 7-5 overall) much of the night.
Their inability to sink shots on the other end, however, kept them from beating Skagit Valley for the second time this season.
(Peninsula topped Skagit 65-57 at a preseason tournament in December.)
“I can’t complain about how hard we played. We played very, very hard. We just couldn’t buy a basket tonight,” Crumb said.
“I think our nerves played a huge factor. We were really excited and pumped for this game. When our shots wouldn’t fall, it was like we got sucker punched every time.”
The Pirates shot just 32.3 percent from the field (20 of 62) and 20 percent from 3-point range (5 of 25) against Skagit’s sagging zone defense.
Thus, despite holding the Cardinals to 41.5-percent shooting on the other end, as well as 14 turnovers, they were never able to wrestle control of the game.
The Pirates held a lead as late as five minutes into the second half but could never capitalize on any of the momentum-changing defensive plays it made after that.
Freshman guard Tia Mason came up with a dramatic block of a breakaway layup attempt that ignited the home crowd, but that was answered by a 6-0 Skagit run for 46-38 lead.
Starting point guard Carli Brakes stole an inbounds pass and took it all the way for a layup to narrow the Cardinals’ edge to 56-51 with less than three minutes left.
The Pirates then stole the proceeding inbounds pass, but that offensive possession ended with a missed 3-pointer from the corner by Jasmine Yarde and then Cardinals free throws.
“They work hard and they are gaining confidence, but I think they were waiting for something else to click instead of taking charge themselves,” Crumb said.
“As a team we were working hard, I just don’t know how many great individual performances we had.”
Kingston product Sophia Baetz terrorized the Pirates with a game-high 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including 3 of 6 from beyond the 3-point line.
Brittany Gray — sister of former Chimacum star Steven Gray — added 13 points and 11 rebounds in the post.
Post Taylor Larson led the Pirates with 12 points while also grabbing six rebounds. Yarde had 10 points, four assists and four rebounds while Brakes added nine assists and three rebounds.
“They play really hard and they are a good, well-coached team. I feel very fortunate to come over here and get a win,” Skagit coach Steve Epperson said.
“They beat us in a tournament in December, so it’s nice for a little bit of payback. They have gotten a lot better. We had to play a good game tonight.”
S. Valley 64, Peninsula 55
Skagit Valley 30 34 — 64
Peninsula 26 29— 55
Individual scoring
Skagit Valley (64)
Dehaan 2, Denmon 5, Gray 13, Wilson 5, Baetz 22, Johnson 10, McClelland 7.
Peninsula (55)
Mason 3, Jones 9, Brakes 2, Ellis 9, Yarde 10, Smith 7, Larson 12, Young 3.